City vows to close off culverts

Published 5:30 am, Thursday, July 1, 2004

City Councilwoman Addie Wiseman said Wednesday that officials will quickly block access to open drainage culverts such as the one that led to the drowning of 13-year-old Logan Jones last week.

Steel bars were installed Wednesday at the opening of the culvert at Cimarron and Emporia in northeast Houston, next to Cimarron Elementary School, where Logan plunged to his death during Friday's heavy rains. His body was found nearly two blocks away.

Wiseman, who represents the district, said parts of the drainage ditch near the school had been covered with concrete in the mid-1990s to provide parking and sidewalks for the school. She said the changes were made without any ordinances or codes to address safety concerns.

She said the accident was "unforeseen by engineers."

Wiseman said Mayor Bill White's office has promised to look for open culverts near schools and see if safety improvements need to be made.

She said in any open culvert where the ditch is covered by concrete, the opening will be closed off by steel bars.

"We want to do anything we can to prevent future tragedies," she said. "It's something we need to change at the state level, because it can happen anywhere."